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I wasn’t planning to do an iPhone post, but clearly folks want to talk to me about it. I’ve had no fewer than 15 IMs, 2 phone calls and even an e-mail from my folks asking what I think about it.

I read the live keynote coverage on MacNN, then I watched the keynote video last night. Watching the video actually changed my opinion of the device a little bit – there are some salient details that were not well covered by the write-ups I read.

I’ve used a bunch ofmobile devices over the years, so I’ve got a fairly good idea of what I like and what I don’t. The iPhone is interesting to me more as a concept and a direction than as something I’d want to buy. To be honest, I really have no interest in getting one right now, but I understand why others would feel differently.

Note: I’m trying to reserve judgement on some of this stuff until I can actually play with the thing. Some thoughts:

I’ve never used a “good” touchscreen interface. Jobs says that Apple has created a better touchscreen and I think that’s probably true. The trackpads on Apple laptops are fantastic, on Windows they suck horribly.

Yahoo! Mail supporting IMAP is awesome!

Physical buttons are really nice, they mean you don’t have to stare at the screen so much. Dialing on Windows Mobile touchscreen phones is a disaster.

Im sticking with my Blackberry. My mobile device has to do e-mail effectively, and a touchscreen device isnt going to cut it when composing an e-mail to someone.

Jobs is actually really slow at typing to compose mail in the video – there’s a reason that 90% of the stuff shown dealt with existing data. I don’t think this device is really designed for capturing input (like a BlackBerry).

Touchscreens get dirty and scratched. I’ve actually liked not having a touchscreen since I switched from the Treo to the BlackBerry.

The other Ericnails a few things that were obvious to me, but that I hadn’t seen written elsewhere. Namely, that Widgets in general and Dashcode in particular make a lot more sense now. Especially since the phone development sounds like it’s been going on for years.

Based on my experience to date, I don’t actually want a “real” browser on my mobile device most of the time. Especially on an Edge connection. On a WiFi connection, a full mini-browser (like the Nokia tablet) isn’t bad. The BlackBerry browser on my 870* series has been the best mobile browser I’ve used.

Letting “normal” folks have a full mobile mail internet device experience with needing to be tech savvy to set it up is a pretty awesome prospect.

“The fallacy that Apple canâ€™t shake even though it hasnâ€™t been true for years – that Macâ€™s are more expensive.”

i take the point, but Mac fans are – as we discussed – typically far more willing to pay the premium than other buyers. neither the Macbook Pros nor the iPods are low cost devices, and then there’s paying for black?

I agree that Apple customers are generally willing to pay a higher price. Just like most premium products – you pay for more, you get more.

The point often missing from this conversation is that you have to compare similarly spec’ed machines. It’s true that Apple doesn’t have as many budget PC offerings as [insert your favorite PC manufacturer name] does, but that doesn’t make the machines “more expensive” as comparably spec’ed Windows alternatives.

– I agree about the desire for physical buttons, that you can feel, and therefore press without looking. The iPhone definitely is a visually oriented device, and there will be times (and people) where that is a problem.

– I too wish for more carriers than Cingular, data plans that don’t cost an arm and a leg, and data speeds like UTMS/EVDO, instead of EDGE.

– My experiences with web browsing and email on mobile phones has been abysmal. I am thrilled for a full on browser and email client. EDGE will make browsing slower, except when the iPhone can find a WiFi connection to use, which it should be fast.

– You have to see the device in person to truly appreciate it. Really. I read the live coverage, watched the keynote stream, saw the photos on Apple’s and other web sites, and thought seeing it in person wasn’t a big deal. It is. The device is a physical work of art, and the apparent (it’s in a glass case, you can’t touch it) quality just does not come through, except in person.

Even though it’s a 1.0 product, and the improvements (like UTMS, GPS, and so on) are obvious, and will surely come quickly, I’ll be ordering the first unit I can. Then I’ll get the 2.0 version for my wife, and swap it with her when she’s not looking.

– Re Cingular, I can understand people not being happy about having to switch, or complaining about their service, etc. But I have to wonder if an exclusive agreement wasn’t the price Apple had to pay to have the hardware and software their way, that is, allow customers to copy/sync what they wanted from their computers, instead of paying $2-3 for ringtones and $3-4 for songs, and other things that the service providers do that cripple the user experience for phones.

– Re the price. $500 is a lot, especially with a two year contract. But think of it this way. Apple _says_ they want to acquire 1% of the mobile phone market, but that’s bullshit. What they _really_ want is e.g. 50% of the high-end mobile phone market, i.e., they want the cream off the top. A high-end price is part of that.

And also think about the responsiveness of the interface in the demos. The phone is running full-on desktop quality applications, with lots of OS X-style gratuitous visual effects, and that takes horsepower. It is, after all, running Mac OS X. The iPhone is basically a specialized Mac.

What’s the price of the lowest cost Mac with a built-in display today? About a grand. No, it’s not an iMac or MacBook, but if you think about it from the perspective of what has to go into making the iPhone, it’s probably a bargain. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple’s profit on the phone comes not from the amount you pay them to buy one, but from what Cingular spiffs them for the two year contract, similar to other mobile phone _sellers_ rather than manufacturers…

One other thing I forgot to note – the thing seemed really slow. There was a lot more waiting for apps to launch, etc. than I’d be happy with in a mobile device. Hopefully that is due to non-optimized builds, etc., etc.